British Airways plans 12,000 redundancies but Aer Lingus silent

British Airways has announced plans to lay-off thousands of workers due to the collapse of the air travel demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IAG, the owner of British Airways and Aer Lingus, said on Tuesday that it had notified trades unions of a proposed restructuring and redundancy programme that could lead to as many as 12,000 job losses at BA.

BA employs around 45,000 people, 22,262 of whom have been furloughed under the UK’s COVID-19 Job Retention Scheme, but IAG did not give any indication as to its plans for Aer Lingus’ 4,000 workers.

Aer Lingus declined to comment when contacted by Extra.ie and would not say if it was considering cutting any jobs at this time.

IAG saw first quarter revenues decline by €700m or 13% year-on-year to €4.6bn and the group made an operating loss before exceptional items of €535m, compared to a €135m profit in the first three months of 2019.

The company also incurred a €1.3bn exceptional charge from the ‘ineffectiveness’ of its fuel and foreign currency hedges for the rest of 2020 due to over-hedging before the downturn in March.

IAG said it had been operating in line with 2019 in January and February and that BA was hardest hit by the reduction in services and revenue, followed by Iberia and Aer Lingus.

Irish sister airline Aer Lingus has not announced any redundancies to date. Pic: Aer Lingus

Passenger capacity for the quarter declined 10.5% while revenue per passenger per kilometre declined 15.2%, and IAG planes were 76.4% full on average, down 4.3%.

The group confirmed it has reduced passenger capacity for April and May by 94% year-on-year and that it is only operation flights for essential travel and repatriation, with many long-haul routes now cargo-only.

The number of flights offered by the company could increase in June but will ‘depend on the timing of the easing of lockdowns and travel restrictions by governments around the world.’

Owner IAG made a loss during the first quarter as traffic plummeted. Pic: Tim Ockenden/PA Wire

‘Recovery to the level of passenger demand in 2019 is expected to take several years, necessitating Group-wide restructuring measures,’ IAG chief financial officer Stephen Gunning said.

IAG said it expects its results for the second quarter to be worse than for the first quarter and will not provide profit guidance for 2020.

The company has around €9.5bn in undrawn and committed finance facilities, including cash, cash equivalents and interest-bearing deposits of €6.5bn.

The government has announced it is extending the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment until August following much speculation as to when the supports would be withdrawn. Minister for Finance Pascal Donohoe...

Penneys will not be reopening its stores across the country next week, it has been revealed. The announcement follows the likely move by the Government to re-open larger retailers for Phase Two of the roadmap. Despite...

Aldi Ireland will have reusable face masks on sale all 142 of its stores. The plain white face masks will come in twos for just €5.99. They are not medical-grade. Hands should be thoroughly washed or...

Tax revenues rose by 1.3% or €78m year-on-year in May as an increase in corporate tax receipts made up for a coronavirus-related drop in income tax takings. A €6.14bn deficit was recorded during the first...

More than three-quarters (76%) of Irish workers believe their employer has a responsibility to provide wellbeing support to employees during the COVID-19, research published by Hays Ireland shows. A survey of 1,7000 employees found...